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Lesson 4 Using Human Resources on the Assembly Line

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Lesson 4 Using Human Resources on the Assembly Line Lesson 4 Using Human Resources on the Assembly Line Big Ideas Materials – One of Henry Ford’s innovations was new – Computer with access to the Internet (optional); ways to use human resources. digital projector and screen (optional). – However, there were some unintended – Sign: How do people solve problems? consequences of this innovation. – Scrap paper – lots – Full roll of wrapping paper, any type Key Concepts – Empty wrapping paper tube – Human resource – Tape – Production – 10 feet of continuous flat surface, – Moving assembly line like desks or tables pushed together – Division of labor – Student Activity Sheet 4: – Specialization Henry Ford and the Moving Assembly Line – Wage Duration 2 class periods (45 minutes each) – Union – Consumption Instructional Sequence Digitized Artifacts From the Collections of The Henry Ford 1 Engagement Lesson 4 Using Human Resources on the Assembly Line Discuss capital resources and both natural and human – Women Workers Assembling Magnetos at Ford High- resources with students. Introduce Henry Ford’s problem land Park Plant, circa 1913 ID# THF23810 of not only hiring but also keeping enough workers – Workers Assembling Car Bodies at Ford Rouge Plant, to perform the many repetitive tasks on the moving 1932 ID# THF23466 assembly line. Ask students to predict or guess what kinds of problems Ford might have, related to workers. – 1924 Ford Model T Cars on Assembly Line at Highland Park Plant, October 1923 ID# THF23577 2 Paper Airplane Workshop* – Swift & Company’s Meatpacking House, Chicago, Il- linois, Splitting Backbones and Final Inspection Students will produce paper airplanes as goods would of Hogs, 1910-1915 ID# THF32081 have been produced before the innovation of the moving assembly line. Continued.... 48 You Can Be an Innovator … Like Henry Ford | Unit Plan thehenryford.org/education Lesson 4 Using Human Resources on the Assembly Line Continued Paper Airplane Workshop Continued Assembly Line Stations Instruct each student to make his or her own paper – Station One: Take one piece from the stack airplanes from start to finish. Find out how many were of paper and place it on the conveyor belt. made after five minutes, share a few designs and allow – Station Two: Make a center vertical fold in flight testing. Clean up. the piece of paper. Tell the students that Henry Ford was especially innovative – Station Three : Open the folded paper. in how he made use of people in his company. Show the – Station Four: Fold the top right corner of the digitized artifacts from Lesson 4: Using Human Resources unfolded paper in to the fold line. on the Assembly Line to provide students with some visual images of the moving assembly line. Read the article – Station Five: Fold the top left corner of the paper “Henry Ford and the Moving Assembly Line, Part I.” in to the fold line. Stop at the end of Part I and facilitate the Paper Airplane – Station Six: Fold the center to create the nose. Moving Assembly Line* activity described below. – Station Seven: Fold one side down to create one wing. – Station Eight: Fold other side down to create the other wing. 3 Paper Airplane Moving Assembly Line* – Station Nine: Adjust the folds so that the wings Paper Airplane Assembly Line Setup are horizontal. Recommendation: Set up the physical assembly line – Station Ten: Test-fly the airplane. before your students come to class. Each station is a job on the assembly line. The airplane Setup should move on the conveyor belt (wrapping paper) – Tape the end of the roll of wrapping paper to an empty between stations. roll of wrapping paper in a few places along the end. Choose ten students to fill these positions. You will also – You will need ten feet of continuous flat surface; you need two students to run the conveyor belt, with one might line up desks or tables to achieve this. holding the full tube and one winding paper around the empty tube. The second student will be the belt-control- – Place the wrapping paper at one end of the surface; ler, controlling the speed of the assembly line. unwind it so that the empty roll-end reaches the other end of the flat surface to form the conveyor belt. Students not working on the assembly line should each be assigned to closely observe one of the workers. Let the – Place a stack of scrap paper at the end with the full roll. observers know that they’ll be asked to comment on what This will be Station One on the assembly line. their worker seems to find easy and what their worker seems to find challenging. Continued.... thehenryford.org/education You Can Be an Innovator … Like Henry Ford | Unit Plan 49 Lesson 4 Using Human Resources on the Assembly Line Continued Paper Airplane Moving Assembly Line Continued 4 Henry Ford and the Moving Assembly Line, Part II Introduce the scenario that the speed of production is Read Part II of Student Activity Sheet 4: Henry Ford and controlled by the speed of the conveyor belt in the moving the Moving Assembly Line. If students want to assembly line. Before you begin, ask students to explain why examine the images in the article more closely, access Henry Ford might feel this is a good idea. After they answer, the digitized artifacts and project them onto a screen, ask the workers to be aware of their feelings while they are if you have one. When you are finished reading, ask working on the moving assembly line. students to answer the reflection questions in writing. Review each of the jobs with the students. Explain to students how the moving assembly line will work. Assessment Once you are sure everyone understands his or her Evaluate your students’ answers to the reflection jobs, try out the moving assembly line! questions in Student Activity Sheet 4: Henry Ford Discuss students’ reactions, successes and challenges. and the Moving Assembly Line. Take notes on the board. Next, try speeding up the line. * Adapted from The Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum Now ask the students: How do the workers’ feelings on the History of Work and Workers in the United States, change? Does the work become more challenging? by William Bigelow and Norman Diamond. If so, for whom, and how? How does speeding up the line New York: Monthly Review Press, 1988. change the quality of the product? Update your notes on the board. 50 You Can Be an Innovator … Like Henry Ford | Unit Plan thehenryford.org/education Lesson 4 Using Human Resources on the Assembly LIne Student Activity Sheet 4 | Page 1 Name Henry Ford and the moving assembly line Part I Have you ever wondered how the items you use every day, such as the shoes you wear and the pen with which you write, were made? They were prob- ably made by workers on a moving assembly line in a factory. Products have been made on moving assembly lines for almost 100 years. But in 1908, when Henry Ford began producing automobiles on the first mov- ing assembly line, it was a major innovation in the way workers did their jobs. Producing anything requires people. The people who play a part in producing a product are human resources. Henry Ford used human resources very well in his company, as “teammates” who helped him run Women Workers Assembling Magnetos at Ford the company and as workers who made the cars. Highland Park Plant, circa 1913 ID# THF23810 Henry Ford was a great team builder. He knew how to choose good workers and how to inspire them to There are many different stories about what inspired make the business better. Ford employed engineers and the moving assembly line, which Ford started using business people to help plan the production, or building, in 1913. Henry Ford once said that he had observed of vehicles and the sales of cars. Members of his team the processes in a meatpacking plant. In a meatpack- started Henry Ford on his way to the moving assembly ing plant, the animal’s body was attached to a moving line. In 1906, a new production overseer rearranged the conveyor belt and moved from worker to worker, who tools in Ford’s factory. Now the tools were in the same each cut off a particular piece of meat. One of Henry’s order of the steps needed to produce an automobile top engineers, Charles Sorenson, said that he and some part! But it took seven more years for Henry Ford and of his assistants developed the assembly line by pulling his team to fully develop the moving assembly line. an automobile chassis along on a rope past piles of parts, In 1908, Henry Ford began building a new factory adding one part at each new spot. Historians think all in Highland Park, Michigan. This factory is where the of the stories probably have a bit of truth. It is certain moving assembly line came to life. that a variety of influences, many people and lots of Continued... thehenryford.org/education You Can Be an Innovator … Like Henry Ford | Unit Plan 51 Lesson 4 Using Human Resources on the Assembly LIne Student Activity Sheet 4 | Page 2 experimentation led to the development of the moving assembly line. Henry Ford encouraged his workers to try new ways of doing things. He was a great example for them, too, as he was always tinkering with his machines and automobiles. Swift & Company’s Meatpacking House, Chicago, Illinois, Splitting Backbones and Final Inspection of Hogs, 1910-1915 ID# THF32081 Workers Assembling Car Bodies at Ford Rouge Plant, 1932 ID# THF23466 This type of “disassembly” line inspired Henry Ford’s moving assembly line.
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